United States Office of Water Regulations Monitoring Branch

Environmental Protection and Standards iWk1661 Monitoring and Data

Agency Washington DC 20460 Support Division WH563

EPA A Water Quality

Success Story

Penobscot River Maine

December 1960

While this story describes progress in cleaning ep conventional

pollutants such as oxygen demanding materials suspended solids

and bacteria toxic suhmtances may be present which may require

further abatement actions However aquatic life is progressively

returning to this area

One of the goals set by the water pollution

abetment laws was ensuring that our industrialized

rivers were fishable and swimmable Weve spent

billions to meet these goals but people still drive

far from the cities for recreation in search of

wilderness

The vanishing wilderness appears to be returning

under the bridges and behind the buildings of some

of our cities and towns And the reappearance of

Atlantic salmon tn the middle of a small Maine city

may help people to start looking again at the land

and water near their homes and offices

Lawrence A DeCoster

New England Regional Manager

American Forest

Institute

June 1978 was a bright month in a bright year for residents

and visitors in the Bangor area of the 270 milelong Penobscot

River Valley in Eastern Maine

In the warm summer days of that year oldtimers saw the

Penobscot River as it was in the days of their youth and younger

people saw a river that at least approached the description of the

once far cleaner stream described by their ancestors

It wasnt just that the sparkle had returned to the

Penobscots surface waters as it flowed to the Atlantic Ocean and

it wasnt the fact that nflors associated With the river for

decades had dieappeared

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It was the fishermen lining its banks bobbing up and down in

boats and canoes in the rips and currents of the river More than

anything else it was the flashes of silver the targets of their

whipping lures For after an absence of four decades Atlantic

salmon had finally returned to the once highly polluted Penobscot

There were moderate indications in 1976 and 1977 that the

massive effort to restore the Penobscots water quality was

working but in the Bangor area in 1978 there was no doubt about

it Nearly 100 Atlantic salmon were caught in June around the

Bangor Salmon Pool facing the Bangor Salmon Club On a single day

late in that month 28 salmon were landed by jubilant anglers and

the total rod and reel catch for the 1978 season in the Bangor

area was estimated at 400

The salmon pool and its adjacent waters held no monopoly on

the action for the salmon moved up along Kenduskeag Stream a

small tributary that threads its way through the heart of Bangors

business district And among the enthusiastic spectators lining

bridges and retaining walls to watch Atlantic salmon being taken

from the Kenduskeag were many older people who saw this return as

an event that had occurred against all reasonable odds

CONDITIONS ALONG THE

PENOBSCOT RIVER IN THE PAST

The Lumber Industry

Writing about his travels in Maine during the mid nineteenth

century Henry David Thoreau noted there are over 250 sawmills on

the Penobscot River and its tributaries above Bangor

Since its earliest days the economy of the Penobscot River

Valley an area rich in timber resources has been based on forest

products initially lumber and since the late nineteenth century

pulp and paper making

By 1860 Bangor was the largest lumber exporting port in the

world and the Penobscot River Valley was the worlds leading

supplier of white pine producing two hundred million board feet

of lumber annually Other lumber producing areas in the United

States at that time produced only half as much

Most of this lumber was exported but some went into building

cargo carrying vessels for Americas merchant marine considered

to be the best and largest in the world during that period At

least half of the nations merchant fleet was constructed in Maine

shipyards According to Maine shipbuilding authority Lincoln

Colcord anywhere from one to two thousand vessels of all sizes

were built along the Penobscot River between 1773 and 1861

These activities however eventually caused serious

environmental damage along the Penobscot

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MAINE

Penobscot River

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NOTE Map does not show the entire State

of Maine but rather only that portion

which includes the Penobscot River Basin

Howland

Old Town

Bradley

Orono

Brewer

Lincoln

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Bangor

Buckspott

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Penobscot River

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Penobscot Basin

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Having discovered that rocks and shallows and the rivers

unpredictable rates of flow held up the spring and summer log

drives to the sawmillsoften by as much as one yearthe lumber

interests constructed dams along the river to control the amount

of water in the Penobscot and to ensure an adequate rate of flow

for its log drives The logs reached the sawmills on time but the

dams impeded the migration patterns of the rivers thriving

population of Atlantic salmon blocking their spawning runs

upstream

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Sawmill wastes sawdust and bark went directly into the

river where they settled on the bottom Sawdust deposits

sometimes several feet deep smothered bottom dwelling

invertebrates the primary food for most of the fish in the

Penobscot and also smothered fish breeding areas preventing

these species from reproducing

Along with sawdust bark from the bank tobank traffic of

long logs to the sawmills also sank to the bottom where it rotted

reducing the dissolved oxygen in the water which fish and aquatic

life need to breathe and live

The Pulp and Paper Industry

By the late nineteenth century the sulfite chemical process

had made it possible to use resinous soft woods to manufacture

pulp necessary to make paper This discovery gave the Penobscot

River Valley a tremendous economic advantage because the spruce

and fir trees in its forests are ideal for making pulp

Maine became a leading pulp and paper producer and much of

this manufacturing was located along the Penobscot River at sites

used for water power and process water The first pulp and paper

mills apeared on the river in 1882 and several other mills were

operating by 1889 producing a daily total of 470000 pounds of

pulp and 80000 pounds of paper

Like the lumber industries in the past the mills built or

maintained dams along the Penobscot to provide power and an even

flow of water to transport pulp wood to the mills These

impoundments further restricted the migration and spawning

patterns of the Penobscots fisheries resource

In addition the high biochemical oxygen demand BODa measure of the organic matter in water which consumes oxygen

during biological processes that break it down characteristic of

pulp and paper making discharges further lowered the rivers

dissolved oxygen levels often beyond the survival point of the

fish The Penobscots other sport and commercial fishshad

alewives smelt and striped basswhich managed to enter the

river were often killed by toxic chemicals in the mill effluents

Pollution Along the Penobscot River in the Twentieth Century

As recently as 1967 the Penobscot River received the untreated

wastes of approximately 32000 people living in Millinocket East

Millinocket Lincoln Howland Hampden Bucksport Milford Orono

Veazie and Old Town A primary treatment plant at Bangor the first

municipal treatment facility along the river became operational in

1968 The Bangor plant however provided inadequate treatment for

domestic wastes from that citys 33000 residents

During this period the Penobscot also received untreated

industrial wastes discharged nonstop from seven pulp and paper

mills at Nillinocket East Millinocket Lincoln Brewer Bucksport

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and at Old Town where two mills were located These discharges

contained spent pulping liquor from the Kraft and sulfite processes

and process waters containing fiber fillers and coatings Many of

these wastes had extremely high concentrations of suspended solids

According to water monitoring studies conducted by the State of

Maine Water Improvement Commission in 1964 the pollution loading

placed on the entire Penobscot River In terms of BOD was one million

pounds per day or the equivalent untreated domestic sewage load

produced in one day by about 5000000 people These studies also

showed that dissolved oxygen levels were depressed to levels as low

as zero along parts of the Penobscot Maines water quality

standard for dissolved oxygen in these waters is at least 5 parts

per million

In view of this gross environmental degradation the Commission

rated the Penobscot River as a Class D Stream which only required

that the odor not cause a nuisance

The loss of Atlantic salmon the Penobscots most valued

commercial species presents a clear picture of the heavy toll

exacted over the years by the lumber and pulp and paper making

processes Records dating back to the 1850s show that commercial

fishermen caught approximately 25000 salmon annually By 1875 the

annual salmon catch had dropped to 15000 to 12000 between 1373

and 1900 and to 2500 in 1910 In 1947 the last year commercial

fishing was allowed the commercial catch from the Penobscot was 40

salmon caught on rod Between 1957 and 1967 no Atlantic salmon

were taken from the Penobscot

By then the quantity of shad alewives striped bass and smelt

in these waters was also severely reduced

It was zero hour for the Penobscot River Trash foam and

stinking paper mill sludge rafts the byproducts of industrial and

municipal pollution floated downstream or lodged on the shoreline

And because of these nuisance conditions the river which had been

used less and less for recreation since 1890was avoided by

boaters fishermen and nature lovers

LOCAL STATE AND FEDERAL CLEANUP ACTIONS

In 1967 the Maine Legislature enacted Title 38 Section 451

the Maine Revised Statutes Annotated This legislation required

that water quality standards be assigned to Maines waterways and

made it illegal to discharge any material into a state waterway

which lowered water quality below an assigned water quality

classification

Acting under this authority Maines Water and Air Improvement

Commission developed water quality standards and submitted a

classification system for all of Maines waters to the State

Legislature The Commission then reclassified the Penobscot Rivei

as a Class C waterway suitable for all water contact recreation

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except swimming an excellent fish and wildlife habitat and

acceptable for water supply after treatment and disinfection The

Commission then issued licenses to all the industries and

municipalities along the river requiring that they construct

operate and maintain pollution abatement facilities by 1976 and

that construction be started by 1973

Responding to the State of Maines requirement that Class C

water quality be achieved along the Penobscot River the Great

Northern Paper Company the biggest industrial discharger to the

Upper Penobscot River was the first industry to achieve major water

quality improvements

According to Great Northern Paper Company Environmental

ProtectIon Supervisor Patrick H Welch In 1969 we initiated

process changes to our pulp and paper making facilities by

constructing a sulfite recovery process at our Millinocket mill We

also discontinued the ChemiGroundwood pulping process which

discharged large quantities of organic oxygen demanding process

wastes to the river at our East Millinocket mill

In 1972 the company constructed a primary waste treatment

plant at the Millinocket mill This facility removes all settleable

solids and 80 to 90 percent of suspended solids from the mills

waste waters

By the end of 1972 Welch says we discontinued our log

drives on the Penobscot Since then we get our softwood logs by

rail or truck We now have fresher higher quality wood because the

time between cutting it and shipping it to the mill has been cut

considerably

Then in 1975 Welch continues we constructed a primary

waste treatment plant at our East Millinocket mill Like thp

primary plant at Millinocket this facility also removes all

settleable solids and 80 to 90 percent of suspended solids from

this mills waste water

Finally Welch says in 1976 we constructed an aerated

secondary waste treatment plant at both the Millinocket and East

Millinocket mills These secondary facilities receive the treated

effluent from the primary plants and remove 60 to 90 percent of the

BOO in their discharges to the Penobscot River

The annual cost of operating Great Northerns primary and

secondary treatment plants is $55 million The companys total

cost for inhouse waste treatment facilities constructed between

1969 and 1976 is $345 million

This substantial investment in water quality improvement has

really paid off Welch emphasizes Before 1969 the overall BOD

loading to the Upper Penobscot River from the Great Northern Paper

Company mills was 400000 pounds per day By 1970 it had dropped

to 100000 pounds per day and to 35000 pounds per day or less

after 1976 depending on seasonal conditions

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Because of our cleanup efforts there have also been

significant reductions of total suspended solids in our treated

discharges to the river Welch concludes Before 1972 the Great

Northern Paper Company discharged 160000 pounds per day of total

suspended solids to the Penobscot After 1972 when our primary

facility at Millinocket went on line the company discharged 80000

pounds per day to these waters then 50000 pounds per day after

1975 After 1976 the amount of total suspended solids to the river

from our manufacturing operations dropped to 34000 pounds per day

or less depending on seasonal conditions

Starting in 1973 the five other pulp and paper mills along the

Penobscot spent nearly $50 million to construct pollution control

systems to provide clarification reducing the concentration of

suspended matter in water and aeration using oxygen to break down

organic wastes As construction progressed state water quality

representatives met with industry offered recommendations and

technical advice and verified that compliance schedules were met

All of these industrial treatment facilities were on line by

1976 with the exception of Lincoln Pulp and Paper which was a few

months late

During this period the state Water and Air Improvement

Commission known after 1969 as the Environmental Laprovement

Commission and since 1972 as the Maine Department of Environmental

Protection DEPdeveloped a monitoring program to ensure that

these abatement actions were improving the Penobscots water

quality State water quality experts monitored the rivers water

quality and the quality of industrial and municipal discharges to

determine if Maines standards were being met

Concurrently state technical specialists conducted longterm

planning studies to determine the need for future municipal and

industrial waste treatment based on projected population and

industrial growth in the Penobscot River Valley

In 1968 the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration

the predecessor agency to the US Environmental Protection Agency EPA awarded the Town of Orono $14 million to construct a

conventional activated sludge secondary treatment plant designed to

provide treatment for 18 million gallons per day MGD of Oronos

municipal wastes On line in 1970 this facility removes 85 percent

of the BOD and suspended solids in its discharges to the Penobscot

River

On October 1 1972 Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution

Control Act Amendments of 1972 which overhauled previous water

quality legislation and began the most comprehensive program of

water pollution control in the nations history by mandating a

sweeping federal and state effort to clean up the nations rivers

and lakes

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Acting under Section 201 of the landmark 1972 Water Act

between 1973 and 1979 the EPA awarded a total of $14 million to the

communities of Brewer Old Town HilfordMillinocket and the Town

of Lincoln Sanitary District to construct three conventional

activated sludge secondary treatment plants which remove 85 to 90

percent of the BOD and suspended solids in their discharges an

aerated lagoon and ancillary equipment such as sewer interceptor

systems pumping stations and force mains

With one exception these facilities were on line in 1978 The

treatment facility under construction at the Lincoln Sanitary

Districta 107 MOD capacity activated sludge secondary treatment

plant is projected to be on line in late 1981

Finally at this writing the EPA is about to award the City of

Bangor $15 million to construct the Penobscot Interceptor Sewer

System to divert untreated wastes presently being discharged to the

Penobscot River through the citys existing primary treatment plant

This system is expected to go on line in 1982

The EPA in addition recently funded several Facilities

Planning Studies under Section 201 of the 1972 Water Act

Between 1976 and 1979 the EPA awarded the communities of

Bradley Veazie Howland Buckspore Mattawamkeag Orono Hampden

and East Millinocket a total of $272500 to find alternative

treatment methods to prevent the discharge of untreated wastes to

the Penobscot River Then in March 1979 the EPA awarded the City

of Bangor $111000 to conduct a Section 201 Facilities Planning

Study to determine best methods for updating that citys present

primary treatment plant to secondary status Once Bangors updated

secondary treatment facility and the Penobscot Interceptor Sewer

System are constructed and operational municipal wastes from the

Towns of Hampden and Veazie will be diverted to the Bangor waste

treatment system

Section 402 of the 1972 Water Act established the National

Pollutant Discharge Elimination System NPDES Implemented by the

EPA and the states this system defines the requirements for

developing permits which regulate the discharge of pollutants into

the nations waterways

Acting under this authority the Maine DEP identified each

industrial and municipal polluter along the Penobscot River and

recommended appropriate cleanup actions

Between 1978 and 1979 the EPA and the DEP issued permits under

the NPDES Program to five major industrial dischargers and eight

minor industrial dischargers along the Penobscot River During the

same period the EPA and the DEP also issued NPDES permits to eight

major municipal dischargers and to five minor municipal dischargers

along the river

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FISHWAY CONSTRUCTION ALONG THE PENOBSCOT

In 1965 Congress passed the Anadromous Fish Conservation Act

which made federal assistance available to restore anadromous fish

species which spawn in fresh water but grow and mature in salt

water Funds were not made available until 1968

Between 1968 and 1977 the Maine Atlantic Sea Run Salmon

Commission under a cooperative agreement with the US Department of

the Interiors Fish and Wildlife Service and the Maine Department of

Inland Fisheries and Wildlife worked to restore the Penobscots

Atlantic salmon alewife smelt and shad fisheries

Funds provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service under the

authority of the 1965 Act and matched by the dam owners allowed

fishways to be constructed at each of the obstructions along the

Penobscot to give the rivers anadromous fish access to ancestral

spawning and nursery areas as far upstream as Mattagammon Lake on

the Penobscots East Branch Fishways were also constructed along

the Piscataquis River a major tributary to the Penobscot

During this construction period says Atlantic Sea Run Salmon

Commission Chief Biologist Alfred Meister the Salmon Commission

collected a brood stock of Atlantic salmon and stocked the Penobscot

with juvenile salmon reared by the Maine Department of Inland

Fisheries and Wildlife and the U Fish and Wildlife Service in

state and federal hatcheries

Because of this tenyear state and federal program

increasing numbers of anadromous fish have returned Co the

Penobscot Meister concludes The rivers fisheries have improved

in populations of Atlantic salmon and alewives and now support a

sport fishery However shad eggs have been largely unavailable and

restocking the Penobscot with this species has not been as

extensive

Launching the salmon restoration program during the years when

the Penobscot was still polluted was possible because salmon smolt

young salmon at the migratory stage migrate immediately to the

ocean during the spring of their release and remain there for two

years before returning to fresh water Returns of salmon from these

early catches were netted at Bangor and at Veazie just north of

Bangor then stripped of their eggs for hatching The smolt were

then restocked and the cycle was resumed By the mid1970s water

quality improved to the point that salmon could make it on their own

upriver to spawn Some salmon are still trapped and stripped

however to keep the hatchery program going

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NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION CLEANUP

ACTIONS ALONG THE PENOBSCOT

According to state water quality experts pollution from

nonpoint sources for example agriculturecould be a remaining

problem along the Penobscot River

In early 1976 the EPA awarded the DEP $405000 to develop

Section 208 water quality management plans for Maines previously

non designated areas During November 1976 the DEP awarded the

Penobscot Valley Regional Planning Commission $87864 from these

funds to develop a Section 208 non designated water quality

management plan to identify and assess land uses in the organized

townships lying within the Penobscot River Basin which were

impacting water quality by other than point source discharges

The Commissions nonpoint assessment centered primarily on

agriculture private waste disposal solid and residual waste

disposal and silviculture activities related to the care and

development of forests The Commissions staff representatives

identified existing and potential regulatory programs and agencies

that were best suited to control specific cases of land use which

the Commission identified as impacting water quality in the

Penobscot River Basin

Based on the results of these assessments the Commission has

made recommendations to the DEP which if implemented will have a

positive effect on the water quality of the lakes and tributary

streams along the Penobscot River The bulk of the Commissions

recommendations center on improved and increased enforcement of

existing regulations and technology rather than on developing new

regulations

The Maine DEP is currently implementing portions of the

Commissions recommendations

RESULTS

According to DEP Bureau of Water Quality Control Director

Stephen W Groves as a direct result of combined local state and

federal cleanup actions the Penobscot River had improved by 1977 to

the point that the entire river met or exceeded Maines Class C

water quality standard

Our monitoring studies conducted that year showed that the

overall BOO loading to these waters had dropped from the one

millionpound per day load recorded in 1964 to approximately 200000

pounds per day an impressive 80 percent reduction achieved between

1969 and 1977 We project that the BOO loading to the river will

drop even lowerto 100000 pounds per day in 1983

moreover Groves says during the same period dissolved

oxygen levels along the entire Penobscot rose from the zero levels

recorded along portions of the river in 1964 to 5 parts per million

or even greater along the entire Penobscot

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With water quality improving visibly along this once highly

degraded stream and encouraged by the return of sport and

commercial fish to these waters fishermen in large numbers

concentrate on the Penobscot to catch alewives smelt striped

bassand especially Atlantic salmon

Fantastics the only word I can find to describe the 1978

Atlantic salmon season at the Bangor Salmon Pool says Roger

DErrico former president of the Sunkhaze Stream Chapter of Trout

Unlimited

In 1978 we put 343 Atlantic salmon on the record books adds

DErrico who also chairs the Penobscot Salmon Clubs Historic

Committee The Atlantic Sea Run Salmon Commission estimated that a

total of 2000 adult salmon moved upriver in 1978 and predicted

that the salmon run at the Bangor Salmon Pool would continue to

improve

For reasons yet to be explained 1979 was a comparatively poor

year for taking Atlantic salmon

But in 1980 DErrico says a rod count in the neighborhood

of 1000 was recorded in the Bangor and nearby Veazie areas

Are the record catches of Atlantic salmon from the Penobscot

River a onetime thing

Definitely not says the Atlantic Sea Run Salmon Commissions

Alfred Meister Right now were stocking salmon each year in the

Penobscot River Watershed These salmon come primarily from the new

Green Lake National Fish Hatchery near Ellsworth recently

constructed at a cost of $7 million It is the largest Atlantic

salmon hatchery in the world and we plan to stock 40000 to 500000

salmon a year from this facility Currently we have fishways in

all major dams on the Penobscot so that fish have access to spawning

and nursery areas in the headwaters

Just a few short years ago boaters and canoers stayed away

from the Penobscot for fear of fouling their craft with waterborne

filth Now theyre returning along with other recreational

enthusiasts who welcome the fact that the obnoxious stink of sludge

rafts along these waters no longer degrades the river and its

shores Picnickers and hikers are enjoying the land along the

Penobscot and people are buying riverfront homes and property for

summer or permanent residency

Water cleanup has also brought Maine some healthy construction

payrolls says Groves Contractors estimate that labor costs

represent about 30 percent of the construction dollar A quick

computation based on this assumption shows that construction workers

along the Penobscot River and other Maine waterways have earned

about $200 million from joint state and EPA water cleanup programs

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In addition Groves concludes construction of treatment

plants and other waste treatment systems has created many new

permanent jobs in the Penobscot River Valley More than 375 people

in Maine at least 20 of them work today in the valley have been

processed by the treatment plant operators programs and most of

them have graduated from Southern and Eastern Maine vocational

technical schools

Success stories in print

Buffalo River New York

Beaver Creek Tennessee

Chena River and Noyes Slough

Fairbanks Alaska

Deerfield River Massachusetts

Detroit River Michigan

Dillon Reservoir Colorado

Rocky Mountains

Escambia Bay Florida

Grove and Center Creeks Missouri

Hackensack River and Its

Meadowlands New Jersey

Haley Pond Maine

Kodiak Harbor Alaska

Lake Minnetonka Minnesota

Lower Houston Ship Channel and

Galveston Bay Texas

Mohawk River New York

Monongahela River West Virginia

and Pennsylvania

Naugatuck and Lower Housatonic

Rivers Connecticut

Neches River Tidal Area Texas

Ogden Bay Great Salt Lake

Utah

Pearl River near Bogalusa

Louisana

Pemigewasset River New Hampshire

Penobscot River Maine

Roseberry Creek Alabama

Sope Creek Cobb County Georgia

St Johns River Florida

St Petersburg Florida

Westfield River Massachusetts

Willamette River Oregon

Yellowstone National Park

Wyoming

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